Efforts have been made previously to create clothes, fabrics and garments that incorporate electrodes for monitoring a condition of the wearer, such as an Electro-cardiogram, or conductive fibers for electromagnetic screening. U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,572 to Granek et al. discloses a garment for delivering and receiving electric impulses which can include wires sewn onto the cloth or conducting cloth sewn onto non-conducting cloth.
However, although useful, these patents fail to address and combat the inherent problems of utilizing wearable electronics. There exist certain operational problems in wearable electronics. These operational problems include the interface between soft fabrics and hard product. This interface, for instance between a shirt and bulky computer or bulky sensory equipment can lead to uncomfortable results to the wearer of the article of clothing. Attaching a bulky product to the inside of a jacket or shirt can cause discomfort, cuts, burns, bruises and related injury to the wearer. Furthermore, there also exist problems associated with the decreased flexibility of the article of clothing that has a bulky hard product disposed therein. Generally, the comfort, flexibility and fit of an article decrease dramatically when a user adds bulky, heavy and inflexible electronic devices to the garment.
Additionally, there also are operational difficulties with regard to electrical connectivity between the electronic device and a circuit integrated in the article of clothing. Given the wide range of activities that the wearer may engage in, either rain or perspiration may penetrate or otherwise enter the electrical circuit. Fluid, perspiration and moisture may disrupt the operation of the wearable garment hence, the difficulties associated with the implementation in practice. Additionally, protection of the wearer of the garment from the detrimental attributes of an electronic device is a great concern.
A need, therefore, exists for a mechanism for electrically connecting various electronic devices to an article of clothing. There is also a need for an improved mechanism having a sliding track for carrying the various electronic devices, the sliding track having at least one channel, the channel selectively enclosing at least one conductive element disposed therein, the channel enabling selective access to the at least one conductive element. Further, there is a need for an improved mechanism having a sliding track for carrying the various electronic devices attached to an article of clothing that is comfortable, and flexible. Still further, there is also a need for an improved mechanism for electrically connecting an electronic device to a power supply that will not permit perspiration, fluid or moisture to interrupt the electrical connection and that is safe and not maintenance intensive.